Vehicles, in particular utility vehicles, have service brakes for driving operation and parking brakes for immobilizing the vehicles. A so-called first braking action can be generated by means of the parking brake independently of a braking process of the service brake. A known actuating device that is part of the vehicle brake system actuates the parking brake.
The known actuating device has a manually actuated control element for actuating the parking brake. If the parking brake is engaged, the actuating device can be switched into a first switching state in which the parking brake is released. The control element has a plurality of deflection positions. In a first deflection position, if the parking brake is released, the actuating device can be switched into a second switching state in which the parking brake is engaged.
A brake system equipped with the known actuating device can have at least one further braking function, for example a trailer testing function, a trailer braking function and/or an anti-jackknifing braking function. Controlling a multiplicity of functions of the brake system can be confusing for the vehicle driver and is often not possible in a readily intuitive manner.